Deirdré Straughan on Italy, India, the Internet, and the world

I’ve Been to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo…

This young puma paced restlessly, completely uninterested in anything outside her cage, until someone came by with a couple of small children. Then the puma’s attitude changed abruptly: it was instantly clear where she saw herself, relative to small humans, on the food chain.

Why did the peacock cross the road?

I love zoos, because I love seeing the animals. But zoos also make me sad, because I’d rather see those animals in the wild (a few times in my life, I’ve had that privilege), and so many species are becoming rare outside of zoos. But zoos like this one are contributing to conservation efforts, in hopes that someday we may be able to restore wild habitats and reintroduce the animals to them.

This young grizzly was one of a pair that had to be taken out of the wild because their mother was teaching them bad habits like raiding human garbage cans.